Ten per cent of GPs set to quit due to overwork and sinking morale

News reporter

One in 10 GPs feel so overworked and disillusioned that they are ready to quit their jobs within the next year, a poll on behalf of the Royal College of GPs has found.

And nine out of 10 of those surveyed say they fear they are so busy that they may miss a vital piece of information while diagnosing a patient.

“It is OK now and again to have a really busy day, but at the moment in general practice it’s relentless, and that is a threat to our own health and our patients’ safety,” RCPG chair Dr Maureen Baker told The Guardian. “Tired GPs are more likely to make mistakes, be it missing a potential symptom or making a paperwork error, and the results of our survey today show that this is a very real concern for a huge number of family doctors.”

The ComRes poll also found that 97 per cent of 504 UK family doctors questioned believed that morale had worsened.

The recent government drive to allow patients to access a GP 7 days per week, 8am-8pm was cited as a major factor in their decision to leave or retire by those surveyed. However, recent pilot schemes have reported that there is less demand than anticipated for weekend appointments with almost no interest in seeing a GP on a Sunday.